Tuesday, November 22, 2011

NFC: No cow sense at all!

One of my father's
favourite expressions is "use some cow sense!" which basically means
"use your brain!". As a result, I found it highly appropriate for me
to use in this article. It is remarkable to see how Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and
her family utterly capitulated under the tirade of dirt dug up against them.

First we hear of
the RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) project awarded to the
family of the Women, Family and Community Minister Shahrizat, who had no experience
of breeding cows at all. Then there is a damning report from the Auditor
General who reported that since 2010, the NFC has fallen short of its breeding
target by 41%.

The public outcry
was predictably loudest coming from the opposition, PKR in particular. They
demanded to know how they got into this mess in the first place and proceeded
to dig further. That is when they realised that they struck political gold and
at the same time, opened a massive can of worms for the Barisan Nasional
government.

Inexcusable
scandals

PKR obviously
wanted to dig deep for evidence of cronyism and fund misappropriation. It was
simple logic. When so much money is dispensed for a project which the Auditor
General (AG) declared to be "a mess", where did the money go
actually? They followed the trail to Bangsar, and the purchase of a RM10
million condominium using NFC funds. Cue the beginning of the
"Cowgate" scandal.

The deathly
silence on the part of Shahrizat and family further compounded the feeling that
this was tantamount to an admission of guilt. Naturally Sharizat crying out
that she was victimised as the former head of Wanita Umno did not earn her many
supporters, as it was clear that she was using the tactic as a scapegoat.

Umno Youth Chief
Khairy Jamaluddin wading into the debate with another insanely far-fetched
explanation that the purchase of the condominium was a good investment just did
not help. But we have to ask, why did he get involved at all in the first
place? What's in it for him?

For a man who is
embroiled in controversy over "Kampung Buah Dada", you would have
thought that he would have kept silent! Obviously, Khairy can take even more of
a public bashing. Is this an act of self-sacrifice for the party? Only time
will tell.

After this the
second condominium unit surfaces. Where does it end?

The cover up

What was
remarkable about this incident was that it turned into a bipartisan affair. BN
backbencher Bung Mokhtar called for Shahrizat to hand in her resignation, which
was met with a chorus of approval from the opposition MPs.

However, the
cabinet members stepped up to the plate to say that it was not fair. Leading
the defence of his cabinet colleague is Muhyiddin Yassin, who said that there
was no need for her to step down as she was not directly involved with the NFC
itself.

This should not
come as a surprise to us, as BN are always so good at avoiding issues, passing
blame around and use less popular members as scapegoats so they are able to
continue plundering and pillaging. Only crooks protect other crooks. When
all else fails, hire a lawyer.

The press
conference

The belated press
conference called by NFC director Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who is also
Sharizat's husband, created suspicion from the offset, when all alternative
media and Chinese language press were barred from participating. Is it the
inability to handle probing questions or fear of his words being twisted?
Perhaps. Nevertheless the exclusion only worsens the

He explained to
the BN friendly papers that the NFC was on track and that they need more time
to deliver results. There were a couple of issues with the answers provided.
The government target of 8,000 heads of cattle is not a breeding target but a
slaughter target.

Although they did
raise 8,016 heads of cattle, the issue the AG raised was that only 3,289 heads
were delivered, which is well short of the target. The entire premise of the
NFC project in the first place was to supply beef to the market. As a result,
the Key Performance Indicator should obviously be the number slaughtered not
raised.

Additionally, he
tried to claim that they were receiving RM70,000 a month for the condominiums.
When I asked a couple of developers and real estate agents, they scoffed at the
possibility of being able to obtain such a high rental.

The income they
get may be in the form of guaranteed yield over 2 or 3 years in which most
developers offer as an incentive to purchase the property. However, this turns
out to be no more than a glorified discount. Anyone who can pay RM70,000 a
month would we well within their means to purchase their own property!

The logic of it
all

After all of the
articles in the online and print media about the scandal, I doubt I need to
venture further into all of its sordid details. Wanita PKR has launched a
national wide campaign to file police reports against five individuals
considered to be instrumental to the epic failure of the NFC including the
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Najib has been accused about lying to
parliament, and Muhyiddin apparently does not see anything wrong with using
public funds to purchase property.

However, let us
take a look deeper into to the whole issue and the futility of it all. The
question has to be asked as to why we needed the feedlot in the first place.
The government would claim that it is to supply more halal beef into the
Malaysian market. Nevertheless there are a couple of important questions that
need to be asked:

1.Farms
in Western Australia already supplied beef
which have received international halal certification to many countries in the
Middle East including Saudi
Arabia. However, Jakim has not approved
this. Is Malaysia truly more
Islamic than Saudi Arabia
so as not to recognise the Halal certificate? If not, why are we unable to
accept the beef?

2.What
is the point in importing Australian cows at great expense and import the feed
as well? There is a massive difference in the quality of Australian beef and
the so-called Gemas 'Gold' cattle, and I would presume that this is down to the
massive change in climate and environment. Why short change the Malaysia
public with sub-standard beef which costs more than

3.If
this is an issue of sovereignty, why can’t the government just acquire a farm
in Australia and send people
from Malaysia
to run it? The NFC ran losses of RM7 million in 2009 and RM11 million in 2010.
This amount would have comfortably paid for the living and lifestyle expenses
of the staff required, as last time I checked, cows pretty much take care of
themselves.

4.If
this is an issue about slaughtering the cows according to Jakim’s standards,
why not just import the cows and slaughter them locally to Jakim’s
satisfaction? This would be far most cost effective than the current method as
we still have to import cattle anyway!

5.Was
this project to stimulate the national economy or the agricultural sector? If
so, why are local farmers not benefiting from this project instead of awarding
this to a company with Ministerial connections that has never bred cattle before?

Grab and run

What we are seeing
now is nothing short of a day-light robbery. We can see the system is rotten to
the core, with scandal after scandal surfacing. However, the NFC saga may be
the straw that finally broke the camel's back.

It is clear that
Najib is not interested in reforms but more interested in making cosmetic
changes to policies just to retain power. His alphabet soup including the
NRKAs, NEMs and the ETPs count for nothing if he allows his cabinet ministers
to run wild with the nation's money, and gives his deputy license to display
arrogance in telling off the public for not believing their version of the
story.

With the MACC and
the police silent about this, there is a definite reluctance in the air to
probe this issue. The difficult questions are now being asked, and this is the
greatest benefit of the strong Opposition we have today. It is clear that
despite suffering the worse electoral defeat in history back in 2008, BN have
not learnt a single thing. In fact they got worse, and expected to get away
with it.

Pakatan Rakyat has
a golden opportunity now to frame themselves as a credible government. Public
sentiment and anger is high, and another season of protest votes may favour PR
in the coming election. However, they must work hard and work fast. Malaysian
politics is fickle and the landscape changes quickly. If they miss the boat
now, it may be a long time for it to come around again.

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About Me

Received my LLB (Hons) from the University of Nottingham in 2007.
Currently working as the Senior Manager at Greatpac Sdn Bhd.
A columnist for the Malaysia Chronicle, a member of the Democratic Action Party, a bioplastic consultant, Foodie, and Christian. All Praise, Honour and Glory be His!